Crime strikes at heart of Detroiters' quality of life

Oct. 20, 2013

Renee Gilmore, on Detroit's east side, has alarm systems and iron bars over new windows, but sometimes, she's still scared to come home after work. Her house has been broken into multiple times. / Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

To break into a home, police officials said, is to invade a person’s sanctuary; the place they should feel safest. These crimes can be difficult to solve, but they’re offenses that strike at the heart of quality of life for residents, police said.

“You have the right to feel safe in your home,” said Detroit Police Deputy Chief Vicki Yost.

As Detroit’s emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, guides the city through bankruptcy, he has said public safety is a top priority — and residents agree. A Free Press/WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) poll last month found that crime is a top concern among Detroiters.

Police said the number of burglaries is on the decline, but in neighborhoods plagued by break-ins, residents have said they feel unsafe.

Still, Detroit isn’t the worst among Michigan’s larger cities — those with 100,000 or more residents — when it comes to per capita burglary rates. That title goes to Flint, which also had the highest rate nationwide in 2012 among cities with populations of 100,000 or more, according to FBI statistics.

In 2012, with 2,979 burglaries, Flint’s rate was 2,931 burglaries per 100,000 residents and Detroit, with 13,488 burglaries, had a rate of 1,908 burglaries per 100,000 residents, statistics show.

Nationwide, Detroit’s per capita burglary rate was 12th in 2012 among cities with 100,000 residents or more, according to FBI statistics. Detroit’s rate per 100,000 residents was higher than cities like Cincinnati and Indianapolis, but lower than cities like Cleveland, Toledo and Memphis, Tenn., statistics show.

Yost said burglaries in Detroit are on the decline. In an interview Wednesday, she said fewer than 10,000 had been reported so far this year. The police department’s yearly burglary totals are lower than reported by the FBI. This could be because the agency might be including more offenses in its total, said Detroit Police Department spokesman Sgt. Michael Woody.

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To solve these crimes, Yost said, the department relentlessly pursues known offenders, launched a home invasion task force on the west side last year to increase contact with citizens, and when possible, evidence is collected from burglary scenes.

So far this year, she said, the department has responded to 1,756 home invasion scenes and 258 breaking-and-entering scenes to recover evidence. Yost said evidence technicians recovered 1,175 fingerprints, 400 of which were useable. She said the department conducts its own examinations of fingerprints.

“When there is evidence available, we make every effort to ensure that it’s preserved and processed so that ... we can bring the case to a successful conclusion,” she said.

According to the Michigan State Police, the Detroit Police Department has submitted 72 breaking-and-entering cases, which could include homes and businesses, to the crime lab so far this year. Capt. Greg Michaud, with the State Police forensic science division, said these cases would include some kind of physical evidence from the crime scene, such as a tool used during the crime or blood.

In 2012, he said, the Northville lab received more than 1,600 breaking-and-entering cases from agencies throughout southeast Michigan.

Michaud said solving these cases brings closure to families and gets criminals, who could someday escalate to more violent crimes, off the streets.

Sterling Heights Police Lt. Luke Riley said burglars are sometimes repeat offenders, so solving one breaking and entering could lead to more case closures. Sterling Heights had 357 burglaries in 2012, according to FBI statistics.

Riley said home invasions can have a lasting impact on victims.

“To most people, their home is a sanctuary, a place of safety,” Riley said. “Once it’s violated, it takes a lot of time, if ever, to get over that.”